“I’ve got a contact at the local PD, a guy by the name of Holden Westmore,” Burke said. “I’ll give him a call and have him call you.”
“Can we trust him?” Cole didn’t want some by-the-book cop crawling up his ass.
“Westmore’s kid brother was killed by a trafficker. So, yeah, we can trust him.”
“Okay, thanks.” Cole added, “And apologize to Maya for me, will ya?”
“Will do.” Jeffrey ended the call.
Cole tucked his phone back into his pocket, headed into the other viewing room, and flipped on the speaker.
“Who are you?” Helene wrapped her arms around herself and looked around the room. “What is this place?”
She’d been sleeping in the nude when the team grabbed her. They’d wanted to keep her off-kilter, so Eddie had tossed her a bathrobe and some beat-up sneakers from her closet and told her to put them on.
Without her usual makeup, her hair all over the place, and wrapped in her beat-up robe, Helene had gone from looking like a blond bombshell to a train wreck.
Andi ignored her questions.
“So … you and Vincent Kimball, huh?” Andi sat back and crossed her arms. “Funny, he doesn’t seem like your type.”
“You … you have me confused with someone else.” Helene straightened her back and stuck her chin out in a failed attempt at looking unafraid. “I don’t know a Vincent Kimball.”
“Oh, come on now, Helene.” Andi tsked. “When I spoke to Vince a few minutes ago, he positively gushed about you. He said you told him you’ve never loved any man the way you do him.”
Cole watched for Helene’s reaction.
“That’s crazy! I never told him—” She stopped and rolled her lips in to keep from talking but too late.
Damn, Andi was good.
“Ah, so … you not knowing him was a lie then.” Andi rolled her chair around in front of Helene until their knees almost touched. “Gosh, I really hate liars.” She shook her head. “Want to see what happened to the last person who lied to me?” She pulled up the picture of Kimball’s battered face and held it in front of Helene.
She gasped, her eyes widened with fear, and she turned away from the graphic photo.
“Now, let’s try this again.” Andi rolled back to her spot and set her phone on the table. “How about you tell me the truth and don’t keep anything from me.”
“O … k-kay, I’ll … I’ll tell you.” Helene started crying.
Andi slid the box of tissues across the table and turned to the window. She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and threw up her hands.
After a few minutes of tears and nose-blowing, Helene realized it wasn’t going to dissuade Andi from getting the answers she wanted. So she pulled herself together and started talking.
What she told them was bigger and more shocking than they expected.
Leonard startled awake, lifted his head, and it felt like it was going to fall off his shoulders. He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and tried to clear the pounding from his scotch-addled brain.
The burner phone beeped on his desk. He slowly lifted his head and reached out to pick it up. He checked the screen and saw that he’d received a text message from Vince.
“Finally.” He tapped to open the messaging app.
V: its done list is destroyed we can resume deliveries
L: i want details call me
V: i’d rather tell you in person
L: come to the house and bring bagels
